Publication in Dalton Transactions

Tetranuclear NiIIcomplexes [Ni4(L)4(CH3OH)3(H2O)]·CH3OH (1) and (Pr3NH)2[Ni4(L)4(CH3COO)2] (2), where Pr3N = tripropylamine and H2L = 2-[(E)-(2-hydroxybenzylidene)amino]phenol, are of different structural types, involving cubane-like core (1) and defective dicubane-like core (2) (link). The variable temperature magnetic data suggested the competition of the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic intracluster interactions in compound 1, which is in contrast to compound 2, where all intracluster interactions are ferromagnetic. This resulted in the observation of a field-induced slow-relaxation of magnetization, which means that the complex 2 represents the first Ni4 single-molecule magnet with the defective dicubane-like topology.